Apple's iPhone 5 to launch on US prepaid carrier Cricket Sept. 28

Cricket on Thursday became the first prepaid carrier to announce it will carry Apple's new iPhone 5 starting Sept. 28.

Apple's latest iPhone will be available through U.S. carrier Cricket with pay-as-you-go pricing. The same company was also the first prepaid carrier to offer the iPhone earlier this year, when it gained access to the iPhone 4S.

Cricket Wireless is a prepaid subsidiary of Leap Wireless, which offers "unlimited" data plans under a "fair usage policy" of 2.3 gigabytes per month. It has a total of 6.2 million subscribers.

In an announcement on Thursday, Cricket Communications said the iPhone 5 will be available to customers in "select Cricket markets" beginning Friday, Sept. 28. No information on pricing or any potential pre-order period was given.

Pricing on the iPhone 4S was $500 for the 16-gigabyte model without a service contract. The carrier also offered the 8-gigabyte iPhone 4 for $400 contract-free.

Cricket offers $55-per-month "unlimited" plan that includes talk, text and data. The carrier offers wireless voice and mobile data services over 4G LTE and 3G CDMA through its parent company, Leap, which is the owner of the seventh largest wireless telecommunications network in the U.S., with coverage in all 50 states.

According to Wikipedia, Cricket Wireless has an agreement with Sprint and MetroPCS. As such, connectivity should be almost as good as Sprint in most cases? I wonder how does the reception compares to Virgin Mobile which also have a similar arrangement with Sprint?

Does Cricket's "advertised" price come with fees, surcharges, upgrades (outside of sales tax, fcc fees and stuff that is applied to all phones required by the state) that makes that $50.00 plan or whatever $90.00 or whatever? In other words, does "chirp, chirp, chirp" mean "cheap, cheap, cheap" as in what you see is not what you'll get with regards to price? Of does "chirp, chirp, chirp" mean their coverage is lacking and one minute you have access to their services and the next it's silence - dead air? Curious to know what symbolism 'chirp, chirp, chirp' how its meaning was intended.

Ten years ago, we had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope and Johnny Cash. Today we have no Jobs, no Hope and no Cash.

According to Wikipedia, Cricket Wireless has an agreement with Sprint and MetroPCS. As such, connectivity should be almost as good as Sprint in most cases? I wonder how does the reception compares to Virgin Mobile which also have a similar arrangement with Sprint?

Or, based on my experience with Sprint, almost as bad. I have had absolutely atrocious data rates with Sprint's 3G, and am amazed at how often their 3G services are down, leaving just 2G data capability. With the addition of MetroPCS cells, maybe Cricket would actually do better on average than with Sprint alone.

Does Cricket's "advertised" price come with fees, surcharges, upgrades (outside of sales tax, fcc fees and stuff that is applied to all phones required by the state) that makes that $50.00 plan or whatever $90.00 or whatever?

My current bill has $6.20 of taxes and fees, making my total likely $56.20. I would only save about $10/mo over my current bill, and still have to provide for my device separately.

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In other words, does "chirp, chirp, chirp" mean "cheap, cheap, cheap" as in what you see is not what you'll get with regards to price? Of does "chirp, chirp, chirp" mean their coverage is lacking and one minute you have access to their services and the next it's silence - dead air? Curious to know what symbolism 'chirp, chirp, chirp' how its meaning was intended.

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Originally Posted by SSquirrel

That's the sound a cricket makes. Of course this article talks about their costs and their website or a quick call to customer service should clear up any questions about extra fees.

Correct. More specifically, it is an onomatopoeia for the sound a cricket makes, otherwise used to indicate a null response or dead air, if it weren't for the cricket, of course.

I just love how all these companies define "unlimited" by some specific amount.
And no, reaching that threshold and throttling you down to slower-than-modem speeds (making even getting mail painful) doesn't count as unlimited, sorry.

I don't get it either. I don't understand why statements of "unlimited" are allowed to stand, legally.

My current bill has $6.20 of taxes and fees, making my total likely $56.20. I would only save about $10/mo over my current bill, and still have to provide for my device separately.
Correct. More specifically, it is an onomatopoeia for the sound a cricket makes, otherwise used to indicate a null response or dead air, if it weren't for the cricket, of course.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopoeia
I don't get it either. I don't understand why statements of "unlimited" are allowed to stand, legally.

how is your bill only $66.20? I pay like $96.23 with att so I'm sure my plan is 89.99. Which seems to be about right for the major carriers. I have a year left on my contract, after that I'll see if there is another carrier that will support an unlocked iphone with all the same features for a cheaper price. I was surprised to hear that t mobile's system doesn't allow for visual voicemail. But now it seems apple is making more versions of their phones to work with certain carriers. Which seems to make the idea of having an unlocked phone almost null and void unless your using it to travel abroad, and just finding a nano sim to stick in it.

It's technically not a comparable plan, but it works for me most of the time.

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Which seems to be about right for the major carriers. I have a year left on my contract, after that I'll see if there is another carrier that will support an unlocked iphone with all the same features for a cheaper price. I was surprised to hear that t mobile's system doesn't allow for visual voicemail. But now it seems apple is making more versions of their phones to work with certain carriers. Which seems to make the idea of having an unlocked phone almost null and void unless your using it to travel abroad, and just finding a nano sim to stick in it.

I would be curious if any of the MVNO carriers support visual voicemail.Edited by JeffDM - 9/13/12 at 1:17pm